Re: Grosh vs Suhr vs Fender CS
Fender doesn't need the money. Fender also makes 1000s of guitars a week, and has a worldwide distribution network. And 'custom' in Fender-speak means the choice of maybe 7 different neck profiles, any body shape as long as it is a Fender one, and any headstock shape as long as it is Fender and the logo can be anything, as long as it was something they have used before. It doesn't sound like a 'custom' guitar to me. The other builders can build you *anything*. Want an LP with a Fender headstock? They'd do it. Want a headless V with only a piezo pickup and your name ingraved in gold on the backplate? They would do it too. With Fender, you can't even talk to the builder directly, you have to talk to a dealer to order your guitar. No direct communication with the luthier is a big problem to me.
At least $1k of that Fender CS is this mythical mojo, made popular by Fender themselves (it is a marketing ploy!) and vintage dealers. I'd rather give my $$ to a small builder anyday.
I have ragged on Fender before, but I like some of their guitars (I own an 82 Strat), and I think the Mexi ones are great. Are the US ones worth 3x as much? No, especially if, like other people in here, you mod them to death. You wind up paying for a guitar you don't use half of. But they charge that much for the 'mojo'. Funny, huh?